Wyoming Finishes the Aztecs : Team Brandenburg Took to NCAA in ’87 Ends His Season in ’88
PROVO, Utah — The game was like a final reminder for Jim Brandenburg of how far he has come in the year since he left Wyoming for San Diego State.
Last year, the Western Athletic Conference basketball tournament was the start of a trip that would take his Wyoming team into the final 16 of the NCAA tournament.
Thursday afternoon’s first-round game ended his first losing season in 12 seasons as a college head coach. To make the circle complete, the Cowboys eliminated SDSU in the quarterfinals.
Junior guard Reggie Fox scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures as Wyoming defeated the Aztecs, 83-76, in front of 9,450 at the Marriott Center on the Brigham Young University campus.
Wyoming (24-5) will play Colorado State (18-11), a 78-68 quarterfinal winner over Utah, in the first semifinal game tonight at 6:05.
The Aztecs (12-17) boarded a bus headed for a Thursday evening flight back to San Diego. Their season was ended by a team they outshot (54.2%-49.1%) and outrebounded (34-27), but could not outplay.
The Aztecs were undone by 15 turnovers, including 10 in the first half, during which the Cowboys made none.
“If we could have taken care of the basketball a little better on the offensive end, the game might have gone a different way,†Brandenburg said. “Our guys gave an effort. I can’t fault them for that.â€
Mitch McMullen, who had trouble in the Aztecs’ earlier games at higher elevations, matched his season high with 24 points and shot 8 for 11 from the field. Sophomore guard Tony Ross added 18 points on six three-point baskets, and senior forward Rodney Hawkins had 16 points and 8 rebounds.
The Aztecs never led after the 90-second mark, but neither did they disappear. Wyoming did not run away from SDSU as it had done two weeks before in an 85-59 rout in Laramie. The Cowboys never got more than 12 points ahead (81-69), and that was not until 2:04 was left in the game.
“That was an above-average effort for us,†Fox said. “Just above average.â€
Nothing more. But that was all No. 14 Wyoming needed to end the Aztecs’ season. Even Fennis Dembo, the Cowboys’ showboating forward, was off his game.
Dembo did score 18 points, but he was 2 for 7 from the field in the first half, had his shot blocked once and blew a two-on-none fast break when he hesitated on a dunk attempt and instead watched his layup try roll embarrassingly off the rim.
But weaknesses that Brandenburg fought against all season--particularly poor ballhandling and a lack of depth--betrayed his team again against the Cowboys.
The Aztecs started the game with only eight scholarship players because reserve center Neal Steinly was sick with the flu and left behind in the team hotel. Three starters fouled out--point guard Bryan Williams, forward Sam Johnson and Hawkins--and McMullen played the last 13:17 with four fouls.
“I made sure I was real nice to the officials after that,†McMullen said, smiling. “I think it helped after that.â€
Williams was not as fortunate. He came up stomping after he was called for a blocking foul on Dembo.
“It was the old bunny hop,†Brandenburg said, but it was enough to earn Williams a technical. Dembo made all three free throws to give the Cowboys a 62-53 lead with 11:08 to play. The Aztecs never got closer than the final margin the rest of the game.
“That was the turning point,†Brandenburg said. “It was a five-point swing we never recovered from.â€
Brandenburg has done his best all season to downplay games against the Cowboys and keep a generally upbeat tone about his struggles through the season. But after his third loss to his former players, he stood in a hallway looking tired and flushed.
Across the hall, his successor at Wyoming, Benny Dees, was in a room explaining the Cowboys’ victory in his native Georgia tongue and giving out a few of the one-liners that have made him one of America’s most quotable coaches.
“We lead America in two statistics--celebrations and shirt tails out,†Dees said.
There was little humor in Brandenburg’s voice. If there was relief that the losingest season in his coaching career was over, Brandenburg showed none.
“I never could get used to the losing,†he said. “It never happened to me before, and I don’t want it to happen again.â€
Colorado State 78, Utah 68--Pat Durham, Colorado State’s junior forward, scored 27 points and was perfect on 11 free-throw attempts as the sixth-seeded Rams (18-11) never trailed in defeating third-seeded Utah (19-10) for the first time in three games this season. The Rams (18-11) shot 60% (24 of 40) from the field.
Texas El Paso 74, New Mexico 61--Texas El Paso (22-8) overcame a one-point deficit by outscoring New Mexico, 18-4, over the final 7:19 to eliminate the Lobos (20-13). Senior forward Chris Sandle had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and guard Tim Hardaway scored 20 points for the Miners, who played most of the game without center Antonio Davis, who injured an ankle in the first half. New Mexico, which lost its third game in a row and fifth in its past six, had a 57-56 lead with 7:38 to play but did not score its next field goal until 55 seconds remained. Junior forward Charlie Thomas led New Mexico with 17 points and 8 rebounds.
Brigham Young 76, Hawaii 74--Brigham Young had to hold off a last-second scare on its home court to defeat last-place Hawaii, 76-74. The Rainbows (4-25) had two shots at a final basket in the last 10 seconds, but both rolled off the rim. Sophomore forward Moritz Kleine-Brockhoff twice tipped the second miss but he could not get the ball to fall. Jeff Chatman had 21 points and 12 rebounds for No. 17 BYU (25-4), which will play Texas El Paso in the second semifinal tonight at 8:05. Hawaii guard Chris Gaines led all scorers with 27 points.
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